I saw USC at least six times last year in the regular season and this is the third game in three games I have witnessed this year. Still not buying your theory.
You have seen two intersectional games, against Virginia and Ohio State. You're seeing this one solely because it's on Thursday night. After this, USC is going to disappear off the TV for most east coast viewers for awhile:
Oregon (8 pm ABC; regional coverage vs Ohio State/Wisconsin)
Arizona State (not gonna be on eastern TV)
Washington State (regional FSN)
Arizona (regional FSN)
Washington (not gonna be on eastern TV)
Cal (8 pm ABC; probably regional coverage)
Stanford (Versus)
Notre Dame (NBC)
UCLA (opposite the conference championship games)
It's cool if you don't agree, but I just think that whereas SEC teams get nationwide exposure (CBS, ESPN) for their conference games, USC has to lean mostly on its nonconference schedule to get national coverage. Most of the Pac 10 season takes place in a vacuum as far as the eastern media is concerned. A game like this offers more to USC than it would to a team like Auburn or LSU or UGA or UTK, who get to play conference games on CBS two or three times a year and then again on ESPN/ESPN2 two or three more times.